For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

This was an episode of the original Star Trek series that I really liked. Several millenniums ago a civilized race built a giant spaceship and camouflaged it with material to make it look like a moon that was detached from planetary orbit. The reason was to make sure no one looked at it with any suspicions and that the chosen survivors would arrive at a new world and just take up the civilization again.

It's gone horribly wrong and the ship never really arrived and now the humanoids living there don't even realize they're living inside a giant ship. The artificial sun and stars are their world. And they've got a giant computer which has taken control and everyone on the ship has a control device implanted in their heads so they never question the will of the 'oracle' or their origins.

More than that has gone wrong, the ship is on a collision course with an inhabited Federation planet which brings the Enterprise on a mission to save their associated planet. They discover it is indeed not a floating asteroid or moon, but has signs of life.

Deforest Kelley gets a little romance here. He's got a disease that no doubt he diagnosed himself and has months to live. He and high priestess of the oracle Kate Woodville fall for each other and that doesn't stop her from defending her way of life as she sees it.

An interesting concept that Star Trek deals with is the notion that a place they come to thinks they are the center of a universe. That is something we earth folks had to learn and some of us still haven't.

The Prime Directive about non-interference is something that William Shatner concludes doesn't apply when we're saving two planets from total annihilation. How Shatner and Leonard Nimoy do it you have to see this episode for.

"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" (Nov. 8, 1968) Old TV Guide synopsis: 'The Enterprise encounters a spaceship ruled by an oracle, who prevents his people from knowing that their "world" is on a collision course with another planet.' A McCoy episode in which he informs the captain that he is dying of an incurable disease, with only a year left to live. Kate Woodville plays Natira, leader of the world of Yonada, all unaware that their 'planet' is actually a ship designed to transport them to a new destination since their people were wiped out by a supernova 10,000 years before. The obstacle that prevents Kirk and Spock from making a course correction is the feared Oracle, imposing the penalty of death through the 'instrument of obedience' implanted in their temples. It's highly improbable that Natira and McCoy could fall in love so swiftly, but such is the way for hour long television (no long courtships allowed).

McCoy is dying. He has but a year to live. Of course, he will not allow Kirk to divulge this to the crew. After a thwarted missile attack, the Enterprise locates the source. It is an asteroid/planet where people live inside, unaware of the grandness of space. They are part of a civilization that built a huge ship when their sun went nova and have been traveling the galaxy for thousands of years. The usual trio beams down to the planet and is taken hostage by a group of soldiers wearing really weird hats and colorful robes. They are also met by a beautiful priestess. It turns out that there is a creator in their past who has been looking out for them, but they must don a kind of implant that forces their obedience to an oracle. Since McCoy and his illness are center stage here, he becomes the focus of this episode. The priestess is so taken with him that she proposes marriage and he accepts. The other, more critical plot element is that this asteroid is on a collision course with a very populous planet; the resulting impact would be devastating. As with the American Indian episode, they must find a way to get things to change course. The twosome must work their way to adjust a force that could destroy them. This is a pretty typical ST episode, neither good nor bad.

Yes ! Remember this was produced in 1968. The Soviets sent troops into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring, China was consumed by the Cultural Revolution, the world was a very dangerous place. Throughout the centuries tyrants of every stripe and persuasion have tried to control the information their subjects receive and blame so many of their problems and failures on outsiders with malicious intent. A self contained world where people have few if any memories of the "Good Old Days" and no way to contradict what they are told by their rulers, and face severe punishments if they rebel. Truth is what the rulers-or ruler-will decide on. It does recycle the controlling computer idea from "Return of the Archons"-I wonder if those who built the Oracle saw Landru's plans ? The Prime Directive ? As Kirk told Spock in "Return of the Archons " "That refers to a living breathing society ! Do you think this is ?

This has everything you'd want to see in a Star Trek episode. Mystery, exploration, encounter with unknown, and a personal insight into one of the characters which lets us know him/her better. I thought this was one of the better episodes and quite enjoyed it.